Impact of Justin Jefferson’s Historic NFL Contract on Vikings’ Salary Cap

When the Minnesota Vikings opted not to bring back Kirk Cousins, it allowed them to open up present and future cap space in anticipation of a historic deal for Justin Jefferson.

The deal came down on Monday when NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported Jefferson agreed to a four-year, $140 million extension with $110 million guaranteed that ties him to the Vikings through 2028.

Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Jefferson will receive $88.7 million fully guaranteed at signing.

Jefferson’s new contract makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history with an average salary of $35 million.

The full cap ramifications of Jefferson’s deal won’t be known until the deal is signed and the structure is made available, but the basic structure that’s been reported does offer a chance to examine how the Vikings intend to manage their cap going forward.

Minnesota entered the day with $16.6 million in cap space for the 2024 season. Here is the team’s available cap space for each season through 2027 before Jefferson’s contract is factored in, per estimates from Over the Cap:

• 2025: $68.7 million
• 2026: $161.1 million
• 2027: $260.7 million

It’s possible the Vikings open up more cap space this season because they will be able to spread out Jefferson’s signing bonus over multiple years if they want to do so.

As an example, Nick Bosa previously held the record for highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL when he signed a five-year, $170 million extension with the San Francisco 49ers in September 2023.

The 49ers were able to get Bosa’s 2023 cap hit down from $17.9 million to $11.01 million. He will only count $14.7 million against the cap this season and $20.5 million in 2025 before it jumps up to $42 million in 2026.

San Francisco had to structure the deal in a way that kept Bosa’s cap hits low because the team already had several star players signed to big-money deals.

Minnesota is not in any sort of cap crunch right now, so general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah could keep Jefferson’s cap hits higher early in the deal to potentially keep them more manageable on the back end when the roster figures to get more expensive.

Jefferson’s new deal will make him the only player making at least $20 million per season. Jonathan Greenard, Brian O’Neill, T.J. Hockenson, Sam Darnold and Andrew Van Ginkel are the only players under contract making at least $10 million annually.

O’Neill, Hockenson, Greenard and Blake Cashman are the only Vikings players aside from Jefferson who will be making at least $9 million in 2026.

The fully-guaranteed portion of Jefferson’s contract blows away the previous high-water mark for a wide receiver of $52.5 million given to Tyreek Hill on his deal with the Miami Dolphins.

One element of Jefferson’s contract that is almost certainly not a coincidence is how it lines up with J.J. McCarthy’s rookie deal. If the Vikings end up exercising McCarthy’s fifth-year option, his contract will run through the 2028 season.

In an ideal world for the Vikings, they will extend McCarthy when he becomes eligible after the 2026 season because it would mean he has played well and established himself as their long-term answer at quarterback.

That would be a situation where the Vikings could keep McCarthy’s cap hits low for the first two years when Jefferson is likely going to be eating up a lot of cap space.

Jefferson has more than earned the title of the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL. The 24-year-old set a new record for most receiving yards by a player in his first four seasons (5,899). He ranks sixth in receptions (392) and tied for 11th in touchdowns (30) since 2020.

Despite playing in just 10 games last season due to a hamstring injury, Jefferson surpassed the 1,000-yard mark. He averaged a career-high 107.4 receiving yards per game.